How old is your website?

A website is a critical marketing tool for many businesses, but the importance of keeping it up to date is often overlooked.

As a major channel of communication with your customers, you need to make sure your site is performing at its best at all times. There are three things that should be looked at regularly: your content, your design, and the underlying software system.

Your content needs to be up to date so that people find accurate information about what they are looking for. The design needs to stay attractive and contemporary. And the underlying code should be updated to keep it secure and ensure it works on modern devices.

Many companies focus on how to get traffic to their websites. Ideally, this traffic will be converted into business. However, an out-of-date design can turn people off, and if your site doesn’t work properly with new devices visitors will be lost before they even see your products or brand.

Web design trends to consider

If your website is scheduled for a design update, there are many trends you can consider, but creating a design that is responsive, simple and storytelling is a useful guide.

Responsive design is already a familiar concept for most website owners. Responsive web design simply means it can be viewed properly across devices of all sizes like desktop computers, tablets, and mobile phones. Up to 30% of all internet traffic now comes from mobile devices, so including a responsive design is an easy way to increase your site’s reach.

Creating a simple web design means taking out unnecessary content from your website. There is a tendency to jam websites with reams of information and pages of content that visitors do not need, but the goal should be to present your message clearly and effectively without being excessive.

Update & Engage

Storytelling itself is not a new concept, but animation and interactive features have made storytelling websites much more engaging.

One of the best examples of a storytelling website right now is Lexus LS 2013. It won’t take you more than a minute to know everything that you need to know about the latest Lexus model and understand what sets it apart from other luxury cars. And it’s delivered in an interesting and fun way that shows better engagement with visitors.

Review your site!

If it’s been over 6 months since you last reviewed your website, chances are it needs an update to either the content, design or CMS.

You can often see changes required if you take a good look at your site yourself. You may be aware of visual items that look out of date, and if you regularly read your own content you will almost certainly find areas that need updating every time. Ultimately, it’s what your visitors are seeing that will form their opinion of your business.